Like An Old Friend
by PinkRangerV
Summary: Where were the original Rangers during PRDT? Maybe trying to stop the whole thing. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Technical Notes: Conner's characterization in this will spring from the fact that, in my backstory for him, his parents are both deaf. As such, he tends to be emotionally open and direct, and it will actually lead him _away_ from being a butt monkey soon. I'm using Ellen Brand's theories for the Colors and what they mean, but the Power's nature and a Ranger's Allegiance are all mine, as are the galactic empires, politics, and offworld Ranger Corps. Psychology, magic, and psychics will be based off real-life equivilants, with a few things changed to simplify them for storytelling. Jurassic Park and Tommy's love for it is a shoutout to Baby Kitty.

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><p>The Dragon Dagger slid out of a Tyrannodrone's back as the Tyrannodrone fell to the floor.<p>

Tommy sighed and straightened, glancing at the carnage around him. It was nighttime, and he was in Mesegog's island fortress. He was...spying, for lack of a better term. The data he needed was stored on a hard drive in his pocket, but a group of Tyrannodrones had appeared, and...

The metal walls were splattered with blood and Tyrannodrone parts of flesh and metal.

Tommy wiped the Dragon Dagger clean as he left the room, sheathing it. He needed his hands free. Blood was a giveaway, and he didn't want Mesegog finding his secret portal in and out. But he encountered nothing more as he snuck through the portal and stepped out into a secluded portion of woods.

He let out a long, slow breath.

His Jeep held plastic trash bags, clean clothes, and basic toiletries. The teens asked why, and Tommy had jokingly told them he buried the bodies of unruly students, but the truth was simpler. He began to strip off the clothes he wore, wincing as the gore brushed his face and skin. Disgusting.

Pathetic.

Tommy paused, then shivered, his bared torso cold in the California desert night. No. That was the right word, but it wasn't about the bloodstained clothes or mission. It was about _him_. Tommy finished cleaning off most of the blood, then stuffed his clothes in the trash bags, climbing into his Jeep and wiping away a final bit of gore from his chin.

Yes, _pathetic_ was the right word. He started to drive into the night, silent, lost in brooding thoughts. Look at him. Once, he had been the Leader of the Earth Ranger Corps. He had been _powerful_, damnit! The fearsome Green Ranger, a being of pure Darkness who fought for Light, with all the loyalty and noble service of a Green; then the White Ranger, his mistakes forgiven, radiating the purity of Whites; then Red, strong and fire in his leadership...

But now only Black.

It wasn't a _bad_ Color. It certainly didn't mean Darkness, though there were still a few who thought that (and that amused Tommy-begun in Dark, ended in Dark). But it meant wisdom. Guardianship. Parenting.

It meant silence.

How long had it been since another team had even _spoken_ to Tommy? After Murianthis, after Kim and Jason had said their goodbyes...Tommy had stayed in touch, up-to-date. Lightspeed had been helpful, it had really tried, and when Serpenterra was discovered, Tommy had, in one final moment of glory, been the Leader of the Rangers. But that had been it. Jason and Kim had practically vanished off the face of the Earth. Trini and Billy were no better. Zack had only called a few times. His other teammates? Nothing, not a word. Everyone he knew and cared about was gone.

It wasn't the glory. The Power altered his Color so often not because Tommy's personality changed, but because he carried the unique ability to change everything based on need. Ultimately, he was still a Green, and still the holy paladin that implied. Glory wasn't something Tommy ever sought, and perhaps...perhaps he might have been content in his silent guardianship of the Dino Rangers.

Tommy glanced at the thumb drive in his cupholder and smirked. Oh, yes. He could find not only contentment, but enjoyment in this life. He was still young enough that playing James Bond held appeal to him.

But he was alone. Achingly, eternally alone. His children-Tommy knew it was wrong, knew that it robbed their birth parents of all the years of love and devotion, but he still thought of them as his children in spirit-were good, strong, and made him proud...but there was no companionship there. They would never be people he could open his heart to, could get drunk with or talk to about his darkest fears, and the mere thought of that was a perversion. They were meant to see him as a father-figure and a leader, not as a human.

Tommy didn't know why the Ranger Corps had abandoned him. He just knew that he hated being alone.

Gravel crunched under the Jeep's wheels as Tommy pulled up to his house. He sighed and grabbed his thumb drive and the bloody clothes. Musings were pointless. Tommy would go inside, get drunk, watch Jurassic Park, and hide his hangover the next morning. It was a familiar ritual.

He wasn't aware of dropping his things and into a defensive stance until he realized his door was ajar.

Tommy straightened slowly. The dark thoughts were instantly banished from his head. Ajar? For most people, that meant a robbery...Tommy wasn't most people, but he didn't discount it. Maybe a homeless person, too. The woods would be a natural place for them to go.

The next option was one of the kids. Tommy had to force himself not to run into the house, imagining one of them sobbing their eyes out on his sofa. Conner was most likely; he tended not to shut doors, even the front door, unless it was cold outside.

The last option was one unique to Tommy Oliver, but ever present: Danger. Of the supervillain variety.

On the chance that it was the third, Tommy moved slowly up the wooden steps. He kept them creaky, but there was a very specific path that he could take to avoid the creaks. A security measure that he found a bit simpler than installing alarms and detectors, despite Carter's warnings.

The door had been forced, which was why it wasn't closing. Tommy ruled out Conner.

A thought of the White Ranger flashed into Tommy's head. The new Ranger had appeared earlier that day. It was more than possible that this was an attempt to take out the most experienced Ranger...Tommy sighed inwardly. If it was, then the Ranger was in for a _very_ big surprise.

He walked in.

Trent Ferdanez was sleeping curled up in a chair, his knees pulled up to his chest and a silver bracelet around his reddened wrist. A short ways away, a man stood silhouetted against the glass back door, the full moon shining down on him. The rest of the house was dark and empty.

Tommy moved first to Trent, crouching in front of him, hoping to check that the boy was all right before dealing with his kidnapper. The man spoke instead. "Don't."

...No.

"Who are you." Tommy asked, getting to his feet.

Jason turned and raised an eyebrow. "Jeeze, Bro. And here I thought you cared."


	2. Chapter 2

A\N: My timeline is coming from rovang dot org's. There are multiple alien species in the galaxy, but the ones that I'll use most are humans (duh), Tallians (like elves with magic-Zedd is one), Eltarians (blue-skinned short humanoids who are scary good at sciences), and Daemon (shapeshifters with the occasional superpower).

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><p>Tommy walked over to Jason and punched him in the face.<p>

Jason recovered, but didn't strike back, instead simply rubbing his jaw ruefully. "I might have deserved that."

"Yeah, just a bit." Tommy agreed.

Jason walked over to the kitchen, dimming the lights and speaking pleasantly, though still quietly. "Still kind of surprised, though. I mean, I figured when I came back you'd be crying or angsting or blaming yourself or something..." He pulled two bottles out of the fridge, bottles of a violet alcohol Tommy knew, but didn't own. Jason must have brought them. "Drink?"

"I'm not seventeen anymore, Jase." Tommy pointed out calmly.

Jason shrugged and opened the bottles, setting Tommy's on the island counter between them. "I know." He raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on his lips. "I mean, come on. PhD? _Already_? Damn, man, you make me look slow."

"Enough." Tommy said quietly.

Jason gave Tommy a long look and sighed. "Yeah. Sorry." He took a drink from his bottle, then said, "Kim and I are the King and Queen of the Dark Court, Kim created Mesegog to begin the galactic version of World War III, and I came here to help."

Tommy raised an eyebrow and grabbed his bottle, taking a sip. "Say that again. With a bit more detail."

"Remember Murianthis?"

_You mean the last time you or anyone else on my first team, the people I considered family, ever so much as _spoke_ to me, aside from _one_ mission that I got the distinct impression you wanted to avoid more than life itself?_ Tommy's mind snarked. "Yes."

"Divatox didn't realize," Jason said, toying with his glass, "But that wasn't a sacrificial ritual. It was_..._" Jason considered. "There isn't a word in English. It changed our DNA. Our...species, I guess."

"To what?"

"Daemon."

Tommy frowned. "Demons?" Lightspeed had mentioned that the demons it fought were physical beings, shapeshifters, maybe they were a species...

Jason closed his eyes.

His skin..._rippled_, for lack of a better word. Silver fur grew, and he shrank, transforming into a wolf. The wolf glanced up at Tommy, grinning, then transformed back, Jason shaking his head as he emerged. "Daemon." He said. "A species of aliens." He tilted his head. "You ran into a colony of them while you were working with Lightspeed..."

"They were aliens?" Tommy asked skeptically.

Jason shrugged. "Yeah. Colonists. They didn't realize Earth was inhabited, then decided to stick around. They were a bit on the crazy side. Lots of cult-religion stuff." He took another drink. "Anyway, the important part is that when Maligore transformed us, we ended up being genetically his kids."

Tommy was fairly sure his expression didn't betray anything. Or at least, he fervently hoped so.

"Remember how when we were kids, Zordon told us we were fighting for good and evil?"

"Given your last rhetorical question, I'm going to regret saying 'yes'."

Jason snorted. "That's why I brought the beer. Or alien version." He took a swig of his own. "Zordon wasn't exactly _wrong_, he was...simplifying. There's two main governments in the galaxy. One is the Eltarian Empire. Democracy, everyone's equal, cool guys." He paused. "And then there's the Dark Court. That's the people we were fighting. Rita, Zedd, the Machine Empire...they were all subsets of...I don't know, it's kind of like the middle ages with lasers or something. And they really, _really_ hated Maligore and Dark Spectre."

"Dark Spectre ruled the Dark Court..." Tommy said uncertainly.

"Uh, no, they kicked him out. Or the noble families did, anyway. He was only ruling over some of the crazy people." Jason sighed and took another drink. "Anyway, they decided that, hey, Maligore _technically_ had kids, so let's kidnap those kids and get them to rule us!"

"You were on Earth."

"For the Serpenterra thing." A shadow crossed Jason's face. "See, back when they kidnapped us, Kim and I kind of freaked. But once we learned a bit of the language, we realized Zordon was right." He leaned in, his face intense. "This _is_ about good and evil, Tommy. Eltar? They're the _good_ guys. But not the Dark Court."

Tommy sipped his own drink, nodding. This...actually made a lot of sense. He remembered the demons-_Daemon_-that Lightspeed had fought. They were insanely obsessed with genetic lineage. Carter had actually considered assassinating Olympus a few times to break them down.

"But the Dark Court, they thought we were their _heroes_." Jason grinned sharkishly. "So we decided to help Eltar."

"...You were chosen to rule a galactic government, and instead of just saying 'no, thank you', you _decided to stab them in the back_." Tommy repeated, raising an eyebrow. What the hell?

"No, no, no!" Jason shook his head emphatically. "See, they're _evil_, Tommy!" He set his drink down, his expression intent on convincing Tommy that this government was pure evil. "So we had to fight them!"

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Jason, that sounds..."

"Tom." Jason said solemnly. "What if you had the chance to walk into Mesegog's lair and he would trust you, completely? What would _you_ do?"

..._Turn and walk the hell away because I have morals?_ "Okay. I get it." Tommy said, deciding it really wasn't worth pursuing this line of thought very far. "So you guys, what, sabotaged them?"

"Yeah, pretty much. People seemed kind of thrilled, though." Jason frowned, playing with his bottle again. "Then we found out Eltar and the Dark Court are in this...war, I guess. It used to be that they were trying to just destroy each other. Then Eltar created the Power Rangers, and...I don't know, no one really told me, it's just like this really bad stuff happened."

"Mass destruction?" Tommy asked wryly. He'd seen a few Earth wars like that.

"Something like that." Jason agreed. "Anyway, after that there was the Treaty of Power. Everyone agreed to follow these rules. You know, the whole secret-identity, don't-escalate-fights thing." Jason grinned dryly. "And there's actually a rule about how the villains have to fight, too. It's great."

"So it's over?"

"Heh. No." Jason took another drink. "The War-they call it the War of Power now-it's still going on. But the only way it can keep going is through planets. See, if a planet is discovered, the inhabitants say whether they want to join the Dark Court or Eltar."

"How many are left?"

"Earth."

Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Yep. And so everyone, and I mean _everyone_, wants to find a way to stop the fight." Jason sighed, looking down. "But then Kim...I don't know. See, we were arguing. I wanted to just make the Dark Court play nice with Eltar, it was just stuff like in Switzerland. I got the other Rangers to come help, too. But Kim, she went nuts. She wanted Eltar to _win_. So she, uh, came to Earth and gave some idiot the formulas to make Mesegog."

"...What."

"Uh. Yeah." Jason glared at the tabletop. "I found out last week. I went to try and fight Mesegog myself, but..." He glanced at Trent.

"What about him?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy...he's the White Ranger. And Mercer's Mesegog."


	3. Chapter 3

A\N: And hopefully, wild plot appears!

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><p>Tommy watched as Jason slumped to the ground. Dramatic, yes, but right now Jason's mental health was <em>seriously<em> under question. He sighed and glanced around. He'd have to replace that vase, too, a pity...he sort of liked it.

Trent groaned.

Tommy walked over to the teen, crouching next to him. "You all right, Trent?"

"I...whaa?" Trent blinked, then sat bolt upright, flinching away from Tommy's hands.

"Shh-shh-shh. Easy." Tommy soothed, grabbing Trent's wrist and examining the morpher on it. Fascinating design. "It's okay. I'm going to help you."

Trent glanced over and paled. "You killed him!" He squeaked.

"No, just gave him a sedative." Tommy said, still examining the morpher. "Come on, Trent, he kidnapped a teenager and was babbling like a fanatic. What _else_ would I have done?"

"...Called the cops?" Trent asked warily.

Tommy chuckled. "Mm, I'm as close as you'll get, sorry...interesting design. Elsa made this?"

"How do you-" Trent cut himself off, staring at Tommy in abject horror.

Tommy was seriously tempted to continue, if only to watch Trent keep making faces, but his sense of compassion kicked in. "Trent. Breathe. I'm not angry at you, you're not in trouble, and you're safe now." He held up his own morpher, smiling gently. "See? I'm a Power Ranger. I'm here to help. Promise."

Trent took a few seconds to process that, but calmed down. Tommy walked over the lights and turned them on, considering the morpher that was unfortunately locked on Trent's wrist. "You can't take that morpher off, can you?"

"N...no." Trent's voice was small, terrified. "A...are you going to kill me?"

"No!" Tommy reassured him. "No, no, I'm just going to help fix the morpher." He shook his head. "It's okay, Trent. You're safe, I promise."

Trent watched him like a hawk.

Tommy sighed, turning back to Jason's unconscious body on the floor. This was going to get interesting..."Here, want to watch TV? I need to get Jase to bed." He dug in a drawer before tossing Trent the remote.

The boy caught it with unnatural skill. Tommy smiled. A side effect of the Power; Rangers were a touch faster and more graceful than normal humans. Trent would probably be glad for that once he started drawing again. "Good boy."

"Wh...what are you gonna do with him?"

Even in the house of a potential serial killer, the boy worried about others. The heart of a Ranger. "Handcuff him to a bed with titanium handcuffs." He hefted Jason, wincing. Damn, the man had put on weight. Maybe it was a Daemon thing, he knew a few students of his were aliens and had twice-density muscle structure.

Trent turned to the television, apparently deciding that not talking to Tommy was the wiser course of action.

Tommy made sure Jason was secure before heading back downstairs. Trent had pulled the afghan over his body, and was blinking owlishly at the television. Tommy sighed. It had been a rough day for him, too.

"You're a supervillain."

Tommy blinked. Well, _that_ had been..."Why do you think that?"

"Your best friend kidnapped a kid and dumped him in your house. You invite him in for drinks, then you drug him and tie him up somewhere. A hero wouldn't do that, that's pure supervillain." Trent said, flicking onto a different channel.

"...And what would a hero do?" Tommy asked, not entirely sure if this was intelligence or just strange.

"Shout 'you'll never get away with this' and start angsting while his best friend holds everyone hostage and starts maniacally cackling."

...Intelligence. "Well, I'm just smarter than most heroes." He grinned mischievously. "And I may or may not have studied the Evil Overlord's List, Hero's Guidebook, Rogue's Guidebook, and checked into the female versions just in case."

Trent stared.

Tommy shrugged and headed over to the sofa, perching on the armrest. "I'm not really a villain, but I fight them so often, well...honestly?" Tommy cocked an eyebrow. "Kind of embarrassing to be the one shouting 'you'll never get away with this' when they already have. So I got smarter." He turned serious, giving Trent a Look. "None of which explains how you found that gem, what happened, and what you remember, which, interestingly enough, is the _important_ part of all this."

"And I know you aren't working for Mesegog because...?" Trent asked warily (and a bit in challenge, Tommy was impressed).

"You don't." Tommy said honestly. "But you're stuck here anyway."

Trent curled his knees up to his chest, his eyes flashing with fear. "You...aren't letting me go?"

"Did you know about your father?" Trent nodded. "That's why. And you tend to hurt people. It's not your fault, but let's keep the collateral damages to a minimum, okay?" Tommy glanced at the boy and sighed. He could certainly get answers now, if he wanted them, but he wanted Trent to calm down, not to break the boy. "You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready, but the sooner you do, the sooner we can get that morpher back to normal, okay?"

Trent just stared.

Tommy sighed and turned to the door, locking it and activating his alien shielding, adding a few phrases to the programming so Trent was stuck firmly indoors. While he could probably untie Jason and cause chaos, Tommy doubted Trent would want to work with Jason even if he was insane.

"Um, Dr. O? You're the good guy, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"...Duck."


	4. Chapter 4

A\N: You ever have that fic where you set out thinking there's a plot, and it turns out the entire story is, well, your first three chapters? That's this fic. I very cleverly didn't realize that since I set up this story purely to give a reason why no one ever talked to Tommy, once they'd talked to Tommy, that was it. So I'm going to try and base a plot off that, but it may or may not work. Let me know how you like it.

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><p>Tommy yanked Trent down with him, covering the boy's body with his own. The explosion shattered Tommy's windows, fire roaring over them. Then he jumped up as it stopped, moving into the warrior persona he had been all but born for.<p>

"Sweep the house! Go, go, go!"

Warrior or not, there were two people here who should not be near weapons. Tommy yanked the Jeep keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Trent. "Get in the Jeep, I'll get Jason."

"But-"

"Now!"

Trent fled.

Tommy darted up the staircase. The guest room wasn't on fire, thankfully, and Jason was snoring peacefully. Tommy hefted him for the second time that night as the door crashed open. Tommy turned.

It was funny. They looked a hell of a lot like monsters, but now that he knew..."You're Daemon, right?" Tommy asked. "Shapeshifters?"

"Yeah!" ...Oh. Oh, god. He was a _kid_. A sick feeling curled around Tommy's stomach. "We fight for our Queen!" The kid brandished a knife.

"Great. Well, give Kim a message for me." Tommy grinned charmingly as he judged various distances and amounts of pain. "Tommy's back."

With one hand, he picked up the heavy-looking desk, swung it wildly at the Daemon teens, and then threw it with all his strength at the window, which shattered. Tommy adjusted his grip on Jason and dived through, landing on both feet and biting back a scream of pain before starting to run, trusting the Power to actually heal him and not fuse any small and probably-broken bones. He chucked Jason none too gently into the backseat of the Jeep, jumped in, and took off like a bat out of hell.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Tommy scanned the area around him warily before turning and pulling into Haley's driveway.

She ran out to meet him. Uh-oh. That was never a good sign, in Tommy's-Haley flung herself into his arms as he got out, muttering, "Oh my god you're _alive_!"

"Uh, yeah. What happened?" Not a good sign.

Haley stood back, breathing slowly. "The kids. They came charging in here saying some psycho woman kidnapped them and-"

Tommy didn't wait to hear the rest. He was fairly sure he didn't bother checking that the door was unlocked before barreling into it, either (although some part of his brain registered that it was probably a good thing it was, since he didn't want Haley killing him). He stopped short as he saw all three teenagers sitting in Haley's dining room and bandaging various wounds.

"_Dr. O!_"

He caught them as they ran up to him. Oh, god. They were safe. He hadn't even realized how terrified he'd been until it had stopped..."Guys, what happened? Are you all right?"

"Dude, the psycho lady tried to _kill_ us!" Conner said, though it was muffled because he had seemingly decided that he was point-blank not letting go of Tommy ever.

"Okay. Anyone hurt?" Various negatives, and Ethan muttering something about an arm that wasn't regrowing. Tommy took the arm in question, trying to both examine it and not accidentally whack someone in the head. Damnit. The arm had been cut at with a knife. Kim must have been trying to get at his scales...It was bandaged and expertly stitched together, though, so there wasn't much Tommy could do. "That should heal fine. Try not to get the stitches wet. You guys know Trent, right?"

"Please don't jump on me." Trent muttered from where he was sitting curled up on Haley's couch.

Tommy tried not to snicker. "He's got the White Dino Gem." He kept his arm around Conner despite the teen's attempt to get away and probably kill the other boy. "Conner. _Conner_. The Gem's doing something strange and I don't know what. He wasn't actually trying to hurt you."

"He wrecked my soccer ball!" Conner protested.

"Come _on_, it was _pink_!" Trent retorted.

...Whaa? Tommy's grip slipped, and Conner jumped out of his arms, launching himself at Trent. "I _like__d_ that it was pink!"

Suddenly, Ethan burst out laughing. The sound seemed to be the cue for a no-holds-barred entirely pathetic attempt for both boys to either kill each other or wrestle, and Tommy watched in pure bemusement. "Ethan?"

"Hehehe...ye...hehe...yeah?"

"Why are my Red and White Rangers trying to murder each other?"

"They...haha...they were on a soccer team together when...hehehe...they were ten and...hahaha...Conner's soccer ball got bleached, so..." Ethan snorted, "Trent said it was girly and they...haha...fought and wrecked it..." Ethan devolved into laughter again.

"Wait a minute." Kira protested, her eyes narrowing. "You mean the entire reason Conner doesn't trust Trent is because of a _soccer ball_?"

"I..." Ethan gasped, controlling his laughter. "I think it's more that they've been bitch-fighting on and off since about it. Constantly." He paused. "Until Trent moved, anyway...hey! So _that's_ where he went!"

Kira looked pleadingly at Tommy.

"Yes. You can smack them."

Kira lit up, waded into the fight, smacked both boys upside the head, and proceeded to yell at them. Tommy snorted.

Then the lights went out.


	5. Chapter 5

A\N: Well, as you may or may not know, my valiant laptop Termy is currently disassembled and missing some key components. I'll try to get him fixed soon, but until then, updates will be sketchy. That said, also thank the reviewer whose name I cannot spell and begins with a Jedi (for an English major, you'd be amazed at my lack of spelling prowess sometimes), because his review got me writing again. Enjoy.

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><p>"...Uh, Dr. O? Did the lights just go out?"<p>

"...Yes. Yes they did."

"Good to know." Kira chimed in irritably. There was the sound of two smacks and yelps. "You two are goddamn idiots. Knock it off about that stupid ball and get it together, or _I'll_ kill you before Mesegog can, _got it_?"

"Yes, Kira!"

Tommy suppressed a chuckle. Kira was scarier than Trini sometimes, which was an achievement. He reached out, carefully feeling for the wall, then followed it. "Guys, stay where you are." He tossed over his shoulder, reaching out-

Things were happening too quickly lately, and this final trigger of his startle reflex was enough. Tommy whirled, and then a green haze overtook him.

It was very quiet in the green place.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Tommy came back slowly.

There were a lot of very heavily armed men. They were all very, very dead. Shit. Tommy glanced at the teens, but they actually looked mostly okay. Actually, it looked like Kira had torn someone's arm off.

"Tommy?" Haley asked slowly. "Was...was that..."

"The Evil Green Ranger?" Jason asked coldly. "Yeah." He glared at Tommy. "I thought you'd stopped using that."

"Why?" Tommy asked, blinking away the green from his eyes. He caught Jason's look and sighed as he methodically rolled his shoulders. "We're fighting someone who's borderline schizophrenic. Trust me, we need this."

Jason opened his mouth, but the door opened instead. Tommy turned and raised an eyebrow.

Kimberly walked through.

She was wearing a red dress that would have made Divatox blush, tight and cut to show maximum skin. Tommy had a vague hope that it would also render her completely immobile, but she'd probably already fixed that. Behind her were a pair of monsters...no, Daemon soldiers, Tommy realized, or maybe some kind of aides. Damnit. He was too used to thinking in terms of 'monster' and 'human'...

_How many people have you killed for that?_

He shut the voice up firmly.

"Surprised to see me?" Kim's voice was even sweeter than Tommy remembered.

"Not entirely." Tommy said coldly.

"Dr. O. Who's your friend?" Conner asked quietly.

"Kimberly Hart, first Pink Ranger. Recently Queen of the Daemon." Tommy rattled off.

"And Tallians. And a whole lot of other species." Kimberly said cheerfully. "'Dark Court' is the catch-all term." She tilted her head, her eyes running over Tommy in a way that was more than slightly disturbing. "It's been a while, Handsome..."

"Ewww." Kira muttered.

Kimberly threw her head back and let out a light, sweet-sounding cackle. Tommy shivered. He didn't even know that was _possible_. What on Earth _was_ she?

"Keira." Tommy could see Jason stepping forward out of the corner of his eye. "Keira, d'tre ki. Mandala n'dgre verga-"

"No." Kimberly's eyes turned hard, cold, and Tommy realized they were bloodshot. Was she high? "No. Not this time." She drew a very long, sharp dagger, stalking forward. Tommy watched dispassionately.

She stopped with her body so close Tommy could feel the warmth from it.

"I'm only going to offer this once." She whispered. "Help me save the world, Handsome. Help me save it all." She leaned closer, touching him now. "It'll be just like old times..."

Tommy grabbed her wrist before she could snake an arm around his waist.

Kimberly paused, then smiled, retreating. Tommy let her, watching, and saw Conner signaling the others out of the corner of his eye. God bless the kid. He'd been hesitant about introducing them to ASL, but it turned out the language was perfect for quick codes between the teens. It let Tommy focus on other things, like that large knife Kimberly had. He was going to-


	6. Chapter 6

A\N: Unfortunately we have to switch POVs now. The reason why will be clear soon...Also, the line 'Good, evil...s'all the same' is a shoutout to Baby Kitty's fics. She is awesome. Go read her work.

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><p>Conner<p>

Ethan says the human brain works like a computer. I don't think that way. Computers are too cold and analytical. I don't analyze. No matter how much trouble that gets me into, I never will.

I _feel._

Inside of me, I feel a switch. Most of the time it's off. I goof, I have fun...but the rest of the time it's been honing itself. Soccer fields instead of battlefields, I guess. Once I became a Ranger, it made sense.

As soon as I saw Dr. O go down, Leader Mode went on.

The world is _really_ black-and-white in Leader Mode. It's a pretty simple equation: We use the Power and fight, or we die. It's a lot harsher than others teams have had to be. It makes it easier to kill. I mean, those monsters, they're living beings. Same with the Tyrannodrones. All of us, we're playing God on the battlefield. If I switched my Leader Mode off...

I don't think I could do that. Not really.

My fist leaves the skull of the first Daemon. A teenager, I notice coldly. They're all really teenagers, like us. Part of me is silently vowing revenge for it, to kill Kim or Kiera or whatever her name is, but the rest of me just shrugs. Like me and mine aren't pawns? Good, evil...

S'all the same in the end.

Jason's sitting against the wall whimpering and crying over Dr. O's body. God, man. Shut up and fight. I duck a fireball and the little compassion my Leader Mode has kicks in-all right, all right, he's too much of a wuss to fight, probably better he stays out of the fight anyway.

"_Conner!_" Kira's voice comes over the helmet comms. _"We can't keep this up! Eth's got a broken arm and Trent's about to lose it!"_

Right, retreat time. "Retreat. Take White first. Blue, I've got your back, bro." I duck into position. The fighting is mechanical, but it snaps away the happy goldenness to my previous thoughts. It's more real, more cold.

Kiera\Kim\Pink Bitch jumps at me. "_GIVE ME THE GEMS!_" Whoa-kay, that is _my_ wrist, you may _not_ have it, I am _using_ that. "Blue! Grab-"

_"Where are they?" _Ethan yelps. I glance over. Jason and Dr. O are gone.

Shit.

"Move it! Now!" Time to go.

_"But Dr. O!"_ Ethan protests.

"The Green Frickin' Ranger?" I punch Pink Bitch in the face. She crumples. "Shit."

Ethan sees the warriors go silent too. _"...Time to go."_

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

I pull over at the lookout point.

The sun's rising, and everyone's either asleep or halfway there. I'm the only one who's awake. I feel my lips twist at the irony. I'm the only one who's _been_ awake. Ever since Trent showed up, Dr. O's been...

I don't think the others have noticed. But he's slipping up. More and more late nights. More and more secrets. And sometimes he'll say 'I' or 'me' when he's talking about Trent. I've tried to pick up the slack, but he's in charge and I can't compensate for bad orders.

I run a hand over my face and sigh. His Jeep was gone when I left. I hate to say it, but if he were gone and okay somewhere...

The color white flares across my mind, then settles. I frown. What the unholy-

_Uh. S'just me, Fearless._

Trent?

_...Hi._

"Dude, it's too early for this." I groan.

Trent grins sheepishly. "Sorry." He verbalizes. "Uh. I was trying to say, if you head down to somewhere I can get us food. I've got some cash, Dad said I needed to carry some just in case."

Rich boy. "Nope."

Trent's face drops. He sighs, taking a second to form the sentence, then asks, "What you said about the soccer ball..."

"Bullshit. Dr. O's been off lately. Didn't want to worry him." It's like trying to put your senile grandpa in charge of the family finances some days.

Trent looks at the ground. I swear the boy is a kicked puppy.

"Look, dude, I don't hate you. And I'm not mad at you." I turn, trying to be honest, _praying_ this gets through. I mean, the guy's life is hell. I don't want to make it _worse_. "Hey. Look at me. My _only_ problem right now is that for some reason you act like a schizophrenic without his meds, kay? _I don't hate you_."

Trent looks suspicious, but less wounded. Thank you God. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm-"

"Don't even try." I order. "Seriously, dumbass. You're nuts. That's not your fault." ...In hindsight, that may not have been expressed gracefully.

Trent snorts. "You suck at pep talks."

"So we're even." I tease.

"So can he get us damn burgers already?" Kira snarks. "And gimme my boyfriend, he's comfy." She reaches out and grasps Trent's arm, yanking him down on the seat next to her.

Damnit, Kira, now I have to be the _leader_. "No." I say, steeling myself. "Trent can't go around people until we're sure he's okay."

Trent sighs, adjusting his arm so Kira can glomp him without squishing it. "Shit."

"Sorry, dude." I really am. "But luckily, I think I know just where to go."

"Really?" Trent perks up.

"Elsa."

"...What."

I give a very evil grin. "Well, Haley told me something interesting while the whole standoff was going on. Apparently Elsa built your morpher."

"Does she have Red Bulls?"

"No, she has a street address." I love Haley so much. I start messing with my GPS unit. "Who's up for a little trip to..." What.

"Where?" Kira asks after a few minutes.

"Uh. Hang on." That can_not_ be right.

"Whassit?" Ethan asked.

"...The principle's house."


End file.
